LONDON, Ont. – With 19 seconds left, the first guy to put his arms in the air was the guy who scored the goal two nights earlier in the longest game in Memorial Cup history to get them here.

Curtis Lazar, with that smile which will always be his trademark, was in front of Tristan Jarry in the Oil Kings net at the time.

And he didn't stray far as the final seconds of a stunning 6-3 win over the Guelph Storm ticked down.

With six seconds to go Lazar and Jarry began jumping up and down, soon to be joined by a flood of team-mates.

For the first time in 48 years, the Edmonton Oil Kings had won the Memorial Cup!

One by one they joined the jubilant pile of players. Henrik Samuelsson who scored the fifth and sixth goals and had a five point night. Edgars Kulda who scored two goals and had three assists and was voted the MVP of the tournament. Captain Griffin Reinhart who seemed like he never left the ice. Tyler Robinson who went out with the fourth line and scored a huge goal. Oilers draft choice Mitch Moroz, who along with Cody Corbett, also scored.

Then from the Zamboni entrance the non-dressed players, the future Oil Kings, raced to the celebration wearing Oil King sweaters including one who was holding the jersey of Kristians Pless the former team-mate who lost his life last summer.

The way the Edmonton Oil Kings won it in their 98th game of the regular season was as convincing as Game 7 of the WHL Final in Portland was convincing. And that's despite the fact next to nobody here was convinced a team which had played 102 minutes and 42 seconds of hockey in the semi-final and 81 minutes and 15 seconds in their final round robin game could beat an overwhelming betting line favorite like the Guelph Storm.

“I think we've been underdogs most of the season,” said goaltender Tristan Jarry. “I think that just gave us confidence to go out there and play our game. We've just grown and grown and grown, from Game 1 to Game 99. Today, we just went out there to play.

“Words can't describe how this team feels and how happy I am to have this.”

Instead of being obsessed with the Oil Kings being too pooped to pop in the 96th Memorial Cup final, most forgot to consider one thing.

The Storm, a team which won all four OHL playoff rounds in five and swept through the round robin here, had never been in an elimination game – or anywhere near an elimination game before.

The Oil Kings have specialized, despite their penchant for writing cliff-hangers, of finding a way to win in the end. And in the end, when they carried the Memorial Cup, unlike the last WHL team to win it back in 2008, the Spokane Chiefs, they didn't break it.

In fact, over an hour after the game was over as your correspondent pounded this paragraph, they were still on the ice posing for pictures with both the Memorial Cup and the Ed Chynoweth Cup on the ice with each other and their family members.

“I'm smilin'. I'm smilin'. That's all there is. So many people doubted us. No one expected us to make it through our league,” said Lazar.

“The team we had. The resiliency. The character. They scored the first goal and it didn't phase us a bit. We knew we were going to get the job done. We had that jump. It's the Memorial Cup final. If you don't have that jump you shouldn't be playing the game. It's one of the hardest trophies to win in sports. We're tops in junior hockey right now,” he said of the 60 teams, four rounds of best of seven series and a tournament at the end of it.

“It was just like Game 7 against Portland. We found a way to spark the offence, got our chances and made them pay. We are so comfortable in these close games. It really showed tonight.

“What a way to top it off,” he said.

“The most exciting game of my life,” declared Samuelsson.

“Our legs were fine. We got to sleep in Saturday and had a couple massages. There's no way you're not gong to be ready to play for this game. It's the biggest game of my life by far and we won. It's amazing,” he said.

“We tried to play the game and not the moment,” said Moroz. “We were business. We were just a team for every game this year.

“It's always storybook with us. We always believed in each other and we deserved this,” he added.

“Special group,” said coach Derek Laxdal.

“What do you say about this group of kids? You've been with them in the playoffs. You've seen them respond. You've seen them perform. It's a special year for us. With Kristian Pelss losing his life in the off-season and losing 10 players, we didn't know if we'd get to the first round or the second round. And to go all the way and win the Western Hockey League and now to win the Memorial Cup is outstanding.

“We felt we could run with their top two lines and our third line, which has been a huge energy line for us, matched their third line. I thought the different was in the goaltending. Tristan Jarry was huge for us. He earned a great win for us tonight.”

Part of was scouting Guelph goaltender Justin Nichols.

“We got our shooters to buy in. They missed the net a few times, but finally we got Edgars Kulda to hit the net and he scored.

Kulda said it was never in doubt.

“I don't think the first game against them we were far away,” he said of the 5-2 loss which turned from a 2-1 lead when Mads Eller scored an “own goal” from behind his net.

In this one the Oil Kings managed to get down 1-0 early, but battled back. I knew we were going to win in the second period when we take over the game. We could feel that energy. Yeah, we can do it. We can wear them down,” said Kulda.

“I think people watching the game were probably more nervous than us. We've been in situations like this before. I think relentless is the best word to describe us,” said Reinhart.

General manager Randy Hansch bottom lined it.

“We're just proud of the history of the Edmonton Oil Kings. We got some great notes from the alumni. Everybody is proud to wear this jersey.”

It was probably a good sign that Bobby Orr was on the ice for the pre-game ceremonies. He was also on the ice 48 years ago in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto when the Oil Kings last won the Memorial Cup.

JONES: Oil Kings erase doubts

LONDON, Ont. – With 19 seconds left, the first guy to put his arms in the air was the guy who scored the goal two nights earlier in the longest game in Memorial Cup history to get them here.

Curtis Lazar, with that smile which will always be his trademark, was in front of Tristan Jarry in the Oil Kings net at the time.

And he didn't stray far as the final seconds of a stunning 6-3 win over the Guelph Storm ticked down.

With six seconds to go Lazar and Jarry began jumping up and down, soon to be joined by a flood of team-mates.

For the first time in 48 years, the Edmonton Oil Kings had won the Memorial Cup!

One by one they joined the jubilant pile of players. Henrik Samuelsson who scored the fifth and sixth goals and had a five point night. Edgars Kulda who scored two goals and had three assists and was voted the MVP of the tournament. Captain Griffin Reinhart who seemed like he never left the ice. Tyler Robinson who went out with the fourth line and sco